2016-02-01: The Drone
The Drone / 群れ
| Author: EM Malachi | Published: February 1, 2016 |
Four months ago:
The great mandibles tore into the sapwood, as the insect drank to refresh itself. The drone had worked exceptionally hard to collect vegetation for the nest, and the day was hot. It would work a few more hours before returning to rest in safety. The Queen would be happy with the bounty it dragged home.
As the drone enjoyed the sticky water, the ground started to rumble, and there arose a strange wind. The rush of air along its antennae triggered a taste-memory that had been passed Myrmidex to Myrmidex, generation to generation. The taste was sour, and there was a mix of scents from animals and plants it did not know. The memory caused the drone to tremble in fear for a moment before moving toward the source. It would gather information for the Queen, or its death scent would warn away the Swarm-Family. Either way, its purpose would be served.
It moved deeper into the forest, scurrying through the dense foliage, as the bad taste grew stronger. The sense hairs along its body could now feel energy charging the air. Moving into a clearing littered with fallen trees, it saw the source of the magic, shaped exactly as it feared. The swirling eddy of the Silver Gate reflected off its multifaceted eyes.
The Oppressors had used such magic, those who had controlled and hurt the Myrmidex. An uncountable number of the Swarm-Family had died to remove the Oppressors from the world and hide away their magics. All that remained were scattered ruins and the creatures that were once their pets. Now the drone watched as such creatures came through the gate, glittering in strange metallic carapaces and moving in a pattern that reminded the small Myrmidex of its own nest’s defenders.
When one of the creatures pointed at it and started shouting, the drone knew it was time to retreat swiftly and report everything to its Queen.
The Swarm
| Author: EM Malachi | Published: February 1, 2016 |
Nearly starving, the allosaurus had strayed from its normal hunting range onto the dry sands. When it crossed paths with the Myrmidex that claimed the region, it had charged the insects, believing them to be an easy meal. The drones had scattered, their flight leading the dinosaur closer to the nest. From those dunes, Myrmidex warriors swarmed from all sides, flanking the great beast and preventing its escape. While the allosaurus’s powerful jaws claimed more than a few limbs, the Myrmidex tactics insured that the injured were immediately replaced by others in the cohort. The relentless tide of insects tore at and eventually overwhelmed the great reptile. Its final screams were terrible.
As the insect warriors moved away from the fallen dinosaur, the smaller drones returned and started to pull apart the carcass. It was a strangely orderly process of torn flesh and cracked bones, and the meat was dragged into the caverns below. When it was done, there was no trace of the skirmish on the sands. Geoffrey watched from a distant cliff and recognized the danger to Eodon.
When he had been brought in to oversee Britannanian interests in Eodon, it had meant being an armored line between the worst human elements of both worlds. When he wasn’t protecting explorers from tribal hostility, he was trying to stop Sosaria’s poachers and raiders from wanton plundering. One of the more grievous crimes had been some who were hunting Kuraki for sport. He had done all of this while keeping Minax and her allies besieged in Shadowguard.
Except for Minax, these threats paled compared with the Myrmidex swarm. While initial reports had considered them simply to be giant ferocious insects, it was now clear that the Myrmidex were organized and intelligent. Hordes of drones spent their days dragging carrion back to their hive to nourish a growing army of warriors, and there were almost daily strikes by the Myrmidex on human settlements and camps. Most of the native tribes of Eodon had pulled back and fortified their main settlements against the threat.
The exception was the Barrab. The Barrab Tribe worshipped the Myrmidex, wearing discarded carapaces in homage and sacrificing their dead to the maws of the insects. They saw the current swarming as an omen of a cleansing of Eodon. They would not allow Geoffrey’s scouts anywhere near the Myrmidex tunnels, and he couldn’t commit his forces to an attack with the Barrab at his back.
A solution needed to be found, otherwise the Myrmidex would overrun all of Eodon.
Geoffrey hoped his king would find one soon. As Geoffrey turned to leave, he swore that one of the drones was watching him.
Japanese version
餓死寸前にしてアロサウルスは獲物を狩るための通常の行動範囲を超え、乾いた砂の上へと踏み出した。ミュルミデックスが支配する領域を通り過ぎようとした時、それは簡単な食事と信じて疑わずに昆虫を食した。ドローンたちは散り散りになり、彼らの飛翔は恐竜を巣のより近くへと押しやった。砂丘から姿を現したミュルミデックスウォリアーが全方向から群がり、巨大な化け物を側面から固めて逃げられなくした。アロサウルスの強靭な顎がかなりの数の肢体を平らげる間、ミュルミデックスはすぐさま他の仲間に取って代わることで確実に応戦した。昆虫たちの押し寄せる波は巨大な爬虫類を引き裂き、ついに圧倒した。その最後の叫びは聞くに堪えぬものであった。
ウォリアーたちが倒れた恐竜から離れると、体躯の小さなドローンたちが戻って来て死体を引きちぎり始めた。肉を裂いて骨を砕く、奇妙なほど整然とした手際で、肉片は地下の巣穴へと運ばれて行った。すべてが終わった後、砂の上に衝突の跡は微塵も残っていなかった。ジョフリーは遠く離れた絶壁からそれを見て、イオドーンの危機を知った。
彼がブリタニアの人々のイオドーンへの関心を監督するようこの地へ派遣された時、それは双方の世界にとって最悪の人的被害を阻止する境界線となることを意味していた。探検家を先住民の敵意から守ろうとしなかったのは、彼はソーサリアからの侵入者と侵略者が理由なく資源を奪うのを止めようとしていたからだ。最も許し難かったのはKurak族を相手にスポーツハンティングに興じる者たちがいたことだ。彼はミナックスと彼女の同胞がシャドウガードで包囲されている間、取り締まりに明け暮れた。
ミナックスを除いては、その他の脅威はミュルミデックスの群れの前に色褪せてしまった。 初回の報告は彼らが単に巨大で獰猛な昆虫であると示唆していただけだったが、今やミュルミデックスが組織化された知的な種であることは明白であった。ドローンの群れはウォリアーの軍隊を育てるために死肉を巣に持ち帰ることに日々のほとんどを費やしており、ほぼ毎日のようにヒューマンの居留地やキャンプにはミュルミデックスによる襲撃があった。先住民たちのほとんどは退却し、脅威に備えて彼らの居住区の守りを固めていた。
Barrab族だけが例外であった。Barrab族はミュルミデックスを崇拝しており、敬意を表して遺棄された甲殻を身に着け、死者を昆虫の胃袋に捧げていた。彼らは現状の繁殖をイオドーンの浄化の兆しと見た。彼らはジョフリーの偵察隊のミュルミデックスの巣穴への接近を許さず、ジョフリーはBarrab族が控えているために軍を動かすことができずにいた。
解決策を探さなくてはならない、さもなくばミュルミデックスがイオドーンを席巻してしまう。
ジョフリーは王が動いてくれることを祈った。背を向けて立ち去ろうとした時、ジョフリーは一匹のドローンが彼を見ていたことを確信した。
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